An Empirical Analysis of Risk Management Effectiveness in Aeromedical Transportation –A Study of Air Ambulance Services

Advancements in aviation and medical technology in the 21st century facilitate the transportation of critical patients via specialized aircraft equipped with sophisticated medical apparatus such as ventilators, defibrillators, and monitoring systems, thereby enhancing risk management in patient transfer. This research aimed to identify the essential elements that can mitigate risk management and evaluate the mediating effect of decision-making confidence, with age and gender as control variables. To achieve the study's aims, expert opinions were solicited, and a structured questionnaire on a Likert scale from 1 to 5 was developed to gather data from respondents predominantly engaged as pilots or co-pilots in aeromedical transportation. The study included 118 genuine respondents selected through stratified and snowball sampling methods. The construct examined in the study was validated by a formative model of PLS-SEM, affirming its major contribution to the construct's creation. Additionally, to evaluate the impact of Decision Making Confidence as a mediator, DMC was incorporated into the model as a mediating variable to examine both the direct and indirect effects of the construct on RMS and DMC. The analysis indicated that the four constructs—safety culture (β=0.471, p=0.021), risk elements (β=0.345, p=0.033), golden hours (β=0.554, p=0.043), and training (β=0.442, p=0.023)—affect the efficiency of risk management systems. Nonetheless, when conveyed by DMC, their influence is markedly intensified, producing substantial effects in all four instances. Consequently, partial mediation was identified, and hypotheses H1 to H4 were accepted as indicative of partial mediation. The findings reveal significant implications by bolstering the decision-making confidence of workers through specialized training, cultivating a robust culture, and instituting real-time processes at key periods. Furthermore, comprehending the influence of age and gender can aid in mitigating risks in aeromedical transportation.